07/20/26

 Happy Monday and happy new week!  I love Echinaceas or as they are also known, Cone Flowers.  I love looking at their centers up close as they have quite the neat pattern.  Reminds me of that old drawing tool, a Spirograph.

 

12/26/25

 It's Friday, TGIF!  It's the last Friday of the year so I wanted to share one of my favorite flowers with some great bokeh because Friday's Are Bokehlicious here on the Blog!  This is an image of my white Coneflowers or Echinacea that grow by the gazebo pond.

09/18/25

 I have not seen many butterflies this year but the ones I have seen have been very nice and were mostly Swallowtails.  This is a Black Swallowtail that was enjoying my Echinacea or Coneflowers one afternoon.

08/04/25

 Happy Monday and happy new week!  I thought I would start off the week with a lovely butterfly I was able to capture on my Coneflowers/Echinacea not long ago.  This is a female Black Swallowtail.  I have seen a good amount of Swallowtails around this year and Skippers but, unfortunately, not many others.  I do see a Monarch every now and then, hope to see more before the summer is over.

07/23/25

 It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog!  Today's flower is one of my favorites and has been blooming like crazy around my area and especially in my gardens.  This is Echinacea also known as Cone Flower or, here in Kansas, Black Sampson Echinacea.  It usually blooms June through July.  This Echinacea provides pain relieving compounds and Native Americans used it for toothaches, sore throats, wounds and burns.  I find it very photogenic.  Birds like to eat the dried seeds.

01/01/25

 Happy New Year!  It's a double digit day of course.  It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog and the first one of the new year.  Starting off with a favorite in an image that reminds of some natural Fireworks.  This is a white Echinacea that I have growing over by my large pond.  Also known as Coneflowers, these can bloom all summer.

12/16/24

 Happy Monday and new week!  Today's image is of one type of insect that I did see a lot of this summer.  These are in the butterfly family and are known as Skippers due to their quick darting habits.  This is a Silver Spotted Skipper that was visiting my Echinacea or Cone Flowers in my garden.

07/19/24

 It's Friday, TGIF!  I was able to see and capture a Great Spangled Fritillary visiting my Cone Flowers/Echinacea.  It was rather tattered looking, wondering if it was damaged in the hail storm.  It didn't seem to hurt it's ability to fly or float as I observed it doing both around the blooms and was able to capture it just after takeoff from this one.  I am sharing this image today due to the lovely bokeh because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!

07/05/24

 It's Friday TGIF!  My Cone Flower/Echinacea has been blooming and attracting various nature.  I captured this Skipper enjoying the blooms one late afternoon.  I chose this photo for today due to the bubbly bokeh because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!

10/13/23

 Happy Friday, TGIF!  It's Friday the 13th, appropriate for the month of Halloween.  😅  Hope it's a good day for you, it usually is for me but we shall see.  I thought I would start the day off right with a photo of one of my favorite flowers, Echinacea or Cone Flowers.  I had to share this photo today due to the wonderful bubbly bokeh behind them because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!

7/20/23

 I have seen several Monarchs around this year which has been quite nice.  I was able to capture this one on my Cone Flowers/Echinacea recently.

7/10/23

 Happy Monday and new week!  Today's image is one I captured a couple weeks ago now of my Echinacea or Cone Flowers growing in my garden railway.  They are a bit out of proportion but they love it there as they have spread quite a bit.  Anyway, I loved the mood set by the light on this group.

6/30/23

 TGIF it's Friday!  Friday's Are Bokehlicious as well and I have a lovely bubbly bokeh image for today.  This is an Echinacea, or Cone Flower, flower in the very early stages of blooming.  The petals look like spikes and very different to the long lobed pink petals when fully in bloom.  The light on the plants behind it was creating the wonderful bubble bokeh.

3/31/23

 It's Friday, TGIF!  Sharing a flower today that I love to see as they make me almost as happy as a Sunflower.  These are some Coneflowers or Echinacea that were growing in my garden railroad this past year.  They are a bit tall for that so I will probably transplant them this year.  They had some lovely bubbly bokeh behind them so I had to share them today because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!

3/17/23

 It's Friday and Friday's Are Bokehlicious!  It's the last official day of my Spring Break.  Sigh.  Anyway, today's image is another to remind of summer.  I captured a Monarch enjoying my Cone Flowers in my yard this past summer.  Our temps keep bouncing around from nice and warm to cold, really looking forward to them stabilizing out on warm.  The bokeh is created from the leaves from the trees behind the flowers.

11/14/22

 Happy Monday!  I'm starting the week off with one of my favorite flowers.  This is a different variety of Echinacea that i had growing in my garden but I think it did not survive this past summer.  They are lovely but not as hardy as the native ones.  They are also known as Coneflowers.

9/9/22

 It's Friday, TGIF!  It's also a double digit day!  😃  Here is an image of some of my favorite flowers, Echinacea or Cone Flowers.  These are a white variety that I have growing over by my Gazebo pond.  They have some lovely bokeh behind so I chose this photo for today because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!

9/5/22

 Happy Monday!  It's a holiday for a lot of people in the US, Labor Day.  Here is an image of a little Crab Spider seeming to wave hello on a Cone Flower.  It was probably trying to wave me away from photographing it.

7/29/22

 It's Friday TGIF!  Friday's Are Bokehlicious as well!  Today's image is of my Coneflowers with some beautiful bokeh behind them.  

7/20/22

 It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog.  Today's wildflower is one you will be seeing more of on the Blog as it is one of my favorites and I have been getting some lovely bokeh shots with them as a subject.  These are pink (sometimes referred to as purple) Cone Flowers or Echinacea.  They are blooming very profusely in my garden right now.  They spread from a few plants to a large group and I have been enjoying them as have the few butterflies I have seen this summer.  On the very left in this image is a very young one just opening.  They change quite a lot as they fully open.